Article of the Afternoon: The Lasting Legacy of Women’s Education in Afghanistan
Girls’ Education Has Taken Root in Afghanistan — Shabana Basij-Rasikh, JustSecurity.org, 7/2/2021
I really enjoyed this first-person article by the co-founder and president of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA). In this article, Basij-Rasikh discusses recently struggles to ensure girl’s education, her own struggle to be educated in 1990s Afghanistan, and why she thinks even teaching one Afghan girl is important.
One of the lasting legacies of Western intervention in Afghanistan will be increased opportunities for girl’s education. As Bsij-Rasikh mentions, where 20 years ago there was nothing, today there are as many as 3.5 million girls in formal education throughout the country. That’s huge.
Educating girls is a huge first step toward equal opportunity. Educated women are more empowered, more confident, and make themselves known in local politics. There is also unequivocal data that shows nations with educated women are far more prosperous than those that hold women back.
Hopefully, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan doesn’t mean the end for this amazing movement. Or will the Taliban attempt to subjugate women and girls yet again?
